Fogler to Star as Late Controversial Comedian in HBO's "Brother Sam"

By Adam Hetrick
November 18, 2008

Tony Award winner Dan Fogler has been tapped to play late stand-up comedian Sam Kinison in the new HBO film "Brother Sam."

According to Variety, the film will be based on "Brother Sam: The Short, Spectacular Life of Sam Kinison," the memoir penned by Sam Kinison's brother, Bill Kinison. Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini are penning the script for the biopic.

"Brother Sam" has been in the works for several years, with radio personality Howard Stern at one time attached to produce.

The HBO film of Kinison's life marks a homecoming of sorts for the intense stand-up comedian, who debuted on the 1984 HBO program "Rodney Dangerfield's Ninth Annual Young Comedians Special."

A 2005 Best Featured Actor in a Musical Tony Award winner, Fogler's film credits include "Balls of Fury," "The Marconi Brothers," "Good Luck Chuck," "Horton Hears a Who," "Kung Fu Panda," and the forthcoming films "Taking Woodstock," "Traveling" and as Alfred Hitchcock in "Number 13."